Education

Featured exhibit items for education.

Exhibit Items

	Elements of Geometry, 1570 Euclid, (1570) Euclid was the starting point for any further study of optics and perspective. Optics combined geometry, experiment, vision and art. In the presentation of the geometrical solids, this copy retains the original pop-ups.
	An Astronomical Catechism Whitwell, Catherine (1818) This dialogue between a mother and her daughter offers a delightful introduction to the night sky. It contains 23 engraved plates drawn by Whitwell herself, including four hand-colored folding plates.
	Urania's Mirror with A Familiar Treatise on Astronomy Aspin, Jehoshaphat (1825) Constellation figures remained popular in education, as in these constellation cards which make learning the constellations easy. The set includes 32 cards, each focused upon one or a few constellations.
1	The Marriage of Philology and Mercury Capella, Martianus (1499) Capella described the seven liberal arts. The first three are grammar, logic or dialectic, and rhetoric. Then come the mathematical sciences, geometry and arithmetic. Geometrical circles in motion make astronomy. Numbers in motion make music.
6	On Anatomy Colombo, Matteo Realdo (1559) Between Vesalius and Harvey at Padua: Colombo, a student of Vesalius at Padua, elucidated the pulmonary circulation and described the mitral valve of the heart. William Harvey frequently cited Colombo in his De motu cordis, (On the Circulation of the Blood, 1628).
7	Wonder Chambers of Nature Vincent, Levinus (1706-1715) Levinus Vincent, a wealthy Dutch merchant with ties to the East Indies, created a spectacular natural history museum in Haarlem. Visiting dignitaries admired his museum, including Peter the Great and King Charles III of Spain.
9	The Generous Muse of the Heavens Cunitz, Maria (1650) Prior to Newton, fewer than half a dozen astronomers accepted Kepler’s three laws. Galileo was typical in ignoring everything Kepler did. Yet this beautiful book is an exception: it clearly demonstrated that Kepler’s laws were more accurate than anything that had come before.
10	The Elements of Euclid , (1847) Color-coded, graphical proofs occur in this masterpiece of visual presentation and design. Text is dramatically reduced in favor of a strategy of visual thinking.
15	Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds Fontenelle, (1728) In this dramatic and entertaining dialogue, Fontenelle explained Cartesian philosophy and cosmology and argued for the existence of life on other worlds. He justified a popular writing style by encouraging women and men to engage in pleasant evening conversation together on scientific topics.
15	Living Anatomy von Hellwig, Christoph (1720) Four leaves of colored, interactive anatomical flaps appear throughout this popular anatomical textbook, which recapitulates the combination of art, engineering and anatomy in Galileo’s world.